500 Days of Love
by RMGryffindor
Summary: A guy and a girl can be just friends, but at one point or another, they will fall for each other. Maybe temporarily, maybe at the wrong time, maybe too late, or maybe forever. This is the story of a boy, James Potter, and a girl, Lily Evans.
1. Day One

**A/N: Hello, lovely readers! We're back! This story is going to be your classic Lily/James story, but told in the format of the movie (500) Days of Summer. Prepare yourself for lots of angst. It is NOT necessary to have seen the movie before reading this, but you should still see it because it's really good. Well, do enjoy!**

* * *

Disclaimer: The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Especially you, Justin Smith.

Asshole.

* * *

This is a story of boy meets girl.

The boy, James Potter of Penarth, Wales, grew up believing that he'd never truly be happy until the day he met the one. This belief stemmed from early exposure to sad British pop music and a firm belief in his parents' love.

The girl, Lily Evans of Cokesworth, England, did not share this belief. Since the disintegration of her parent's marriage she'd only love two things. The first was her long red hair. The second was how easily she could cut it off and not feel a thing.

James meets Lily on September 1st, 1971, but it isn't until that same day six years later until he knows immediately she is who he has been searching for.

This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story.

* * *

Day (1)

_Lily_

When the Head Girl badge had been sent to her, Lily Evans had cried and squealed and jumped around, letting herself for just one moment become one of those teenage girls she always despised. Her mum had kissed her on the cheek and her sister had given her a nod of approval, but nothing more. When she told her father on the phone of the great achievement, he too congratulated her, promising a big fat kiss on the cheek when he next saw her.

Now, as Lily stumbled through King's Cross Station, balancing all of the belongings she needed to bring for the new year, she suddenly wished she had never been given the badge that sat on her chest. Because there, standing in front of her, was James Potter, who appeared to be horsing off with his partner-in-crime, Sirius Black. Remus and Peter joined in on the fun, all laughing loudly and ruff housing in the middle of the station.

It wasn't the presence of Potter, exactly, that really made her skin crawl but rather the presence of the badge that sat on his chest, almost identical to the one that was pinned to her cardigan. The only difference was the word on the bottom, reading Boy rather than Girl. Most people would believe that Lily would despise the fact he got Head Boy. Some may even believe she would go straight to Dumbledore and complain. But not many would actually think she would regret getting her position, going so far as to consider resigning.

But there she was, thinking of a way she could discreetly slip the badge off and pretend she never received it in the first place. A visible frown adorned her scrunched up face as she glared right at the group of troublemakers. Really, who did they think they were? They were all just so cocky and on top of the world, it drove her absolutely bonkers.

Instead, however, of approaching them, she decided to take the high road. Yes, instead she just stormed past them, stumbling along with her many belonging flailing behind her. And even then, Potter had the nerve to give her the once over.

She felt his eyes trail up her legs, which had gotten quite toned from all the hiking she did with her cousins that summer, over her arse, and up to her face. Lily suddenly regretted using Mr. Magic's Straightening Elixir to straighten out her usually tangled mane and that touch of mascara she had borrowed from Petunia. No, she wasn't obsessed with her looks, but she had wanted to look good for her first day as Head Girl. Seems like that had gone to waste, for Potter was the only one who noticed.

Anywho, she bustled into the compartment, one at the back that Alice and her had decided on through owls just a few days ago. When she go there, however, Alice hadn't arrived yet. Lily set her things down, her owl cage on the seat next to her and her luggage in the compartment above, before propping her feet up and letting her head loll back.

Her summer had been fair. Scratch that, it had been amazing, one hell of a summer. With her cousins on her father's side, she had gone backpacking around, mostly in Greece and Turkey. Petunia had refused to come, even though their father offered to pay her fair too, claiming she wanted to stay home and relax. Lily, however, had taken up the offer, graciously taking the large sum of money that her father offered up.

Now, while Lily wasn't one to accept money, she felt like she deserved this from her father. After he had left, taking the long-legged blonde he had been sleeping with for months along with his fortune, Lily had been devastated. For months, she would only see him for one or two hours, before he had to zip off to somewhere else, his briefcase a constant by his side. When he offered the trip, she had immediately taken it, using it as a consolation prize for him actually being there.

Lost in thought, she didn't notice the compartment door sliding open. She did, however, notice the extra person in the room, when slender arms wrapped around Lily's shoulder and pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

"Alice," cried Lily happily, snapping from her daze to embrace her best friend back. "It's so good to see you!"

"You, too! Oh Merlin, let me see it," commanded Alice, pulling back to inspect the shiny new badge. "Oh, Lils, I'm so proud of you."

Lily nodded in thanks, a sick feeling coming to her stomach as she once again remembered who her co-Head was.

"You don't look too happy," said Alice, "Why don't you look happy?"

"Potter."

Alice rolled her eyes, giggling as she said, "What did he do this time?"

"He's Head Boy."

She cocked her head to the side, obviously pondering my statement, before replying, "To be honest, it's not that big of a surprise. Sure, he's a Marauder, but he's really smart and has great leadership skills. The pranks even subsided a bit last year. He's really pulled his act together."

"Are you joking me? Potter? James Potter? Are we talking about the same person? About the toe-rag, prattish, girl-loving, bullying, pranking-pulling James Potter? Best friends with Sirius Black?"

Lily could go on all day about Potter's unattractive qualities, but she would have to go on all day, because all of his qualities were unattractive. The way he ran his hand through his hair, the way he popped his gum, the way he tapped his quill constantly on his desk. Every single goddamn thing he did found a way to crawl into her brain and make her want hex him into the next century.

"Lily, he's not all of those things anymore. He's changed a lot since fifth year."

"Changed my arse," Lily scoffed.

Alice just shrugged, muttering a quick whatever, before changing the subject by saying, "So tell me all about your trip to Greece!"

Lily was thankful for the dropped conversation, content to clap and squeal and ramble on about her exciting summer.

The time came, however, for Lily to go to the Prefect's compartment, and it was a time she very much dreaded. She huffed and pouted as she waved goodbye to Alice, before making her way to the front of the train.

As she was walking, she waved and smiled at her friends, blushing red at the congratulations of the badge on her chest and mumbling a thank you. Approaching the compartment, only a few steps away, she was taken aback when she saw Severus roughly pushed past her, obviously having stormed out of one of the nearby compartments.

"Severus," she shouted after him. He turned around, surprised not only by the use of his first name but at the fact that she was actually speaking to him. Well, shouting was more like it, but still. "No running on the train."

He stood there for a moment, frozen, before he whipped back around and stormed away (though not as fast as he had been before). With a triumphant smile, Lily burst through, into the Prefect's Compartment, to see that most of the prefects were already there, with Potter slouched off to the side, happily chattering with Remus. He was waving his hands around and gesturing them all over the place. Those actions alone peeved off Lily.

"Potter," she called. In response, his head snapped up and a dopey smile grew on his face.

"Evans," he responded, standing up and swaggering over to her. He through an arm around her shoulder, which she promptly through off, shivering at the fact that his arm had touched her. His disgusting, germ infested arm had been around Lily's shoulder. That was not acceptable.

"Rule number one," she sneered, "Don't touch me."

"Rules? What rules?"

Lily crossed her arms and replied, "The rules that you will follow if you don't want to be castrated during our rule as co-Heads."

Lily felt eyes on her, for when she looked up, about half the prefects were staring up at them, hoping for a snippet of their conversation. In response, she opened the door to the compartment and pointed out into the corridor, hoping to get a few words in with him before the meeting.

"Fine," he grumbled, his shoulder dropping as he dragged himself out. "Come out here to yell at me, eh Evans? Or maybe you just want a quick snog?"

"Rule number two," she stated, "No innuendos."

"Come on Evans," he retorted, "Taking jokes away from me is worse then cutting off my ba- I mean...uh...privates."

"I'm not taking away jokes, I'm taking away inappropriate jokes."

She thought she heard him mutter under his breath, "Same thing," but chose to ignore it.

"Rule three, we are not friends. I don't want to be your girlfriend, your friend, your acquaintance, your snog-buddy, I don't even want to be your enemy. My point is, I don't want to be your anything. You may talk to me only if the situation presents itself, like in class if we are partnered together or you have a question about Head's duties. Got it?"

"Damn, Evans, you've got it that bad that you have to make up all these rules just to hide your undying love?"

Lily didn't even flinch, rather sighing and saying, "Potter, I'm going to be completely honest with you. I don't like you. I don't like the way you do everything single thing you can just to annoy me and basically, I'm sick of it. Please, let's just get through this year in one piece."

He grumbled something unintelligible, but Lily just dropped her head in her hands, choosing to push past him and back into the compartment instead of arguing with him more.

And by the end of the meeting Lily knew one thing for certain, surprised she hadn't realized it before. Her feelings for Potter really had changed, his behavior that day really shaping them up and making her come to the conclusion.

Lily Evans absolutely and completely loathed James Potter.

* * *

_James_

He had been laughing about something Sirius said-nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that didn't happen everyday of his life. But then she entered the picture.

Coming straight out of the banister that separated the Muggle platform and the wizard one, towing her trunk in one hand and carrying her owl's cage in the other, with the glittering Head Girl badge pinned onto the front of her navy blue cardigan, Lily Evans came into his life once again.

She looked quite the same as she did a couple months ago, but she also had several differences to her appearance. He didn't know where she went over the hols, but it was definitely not within the country-her lightly tanner skin tone said so. Her red hair was straightened, something he was not used to, and wished it was back in its usual curls. Her curls were so beautiful.

Because he wasn't ashamed to admit, a quick inspection of her physique provided more than satisfactory results-Lily had always had a nice body, but now her legs were more toned and she displayed them nicely underneath her jean shorts. And even though her facial expression seemed to darken the second she noticed him-dammit-she still had a radiant glow about her, as if she was utterly relaxed and happy and excited all at the same time, and those emotions reflected out onto her physical being.

Her eyes, however, had not changed one bit. It was her eyes that were the most familiar, the sparkling green that James found himself being most drawn to. Which said much, because Lily Evans truly was an extremely lovely girl.

How could James have thought for one moment that he wasn't completely in love with her?

His feelings for her were nothing new-he had come to terms with his crush on Lily years ago-but that was the first time he had ever acknowledged it as anything more than infatuation. But now he know that it was so much more than that.

He, James Potter, was in love with her, Lily Evans.

Now if only she didn't hate him.

He couldn't help it that whenever she was around, he had a habit of making a complete idiot of himself. She just had that effect on him. She brought out both the best in him and the worst in him, but it seems as if the only one she ever noticed was the worst. But not today.

It was on that day, September first, 1977, that James resolved to show Lily that he really was better than the James she had seen. He came to this decision exactly forty-eight seconds after realizing he was in love with her. But only took him another two seconds to start putting that plan into action.

"So, Evans is Head Girl, I see? Can't say that's really much of a surprise. We all expected it," he said, not bothering to let Remus finish what he was saying.

"Oh, dear. Not poor Evans again. Don't you think it's time to give up, Prongs? She does kind of hate you," Sirius Black replied, not bothering to be gentle about acknowledging her dislike for James.

"Lily doesn't hate him," said Remus, another member of the notorious Marauders. "She just hates that fact that he could be so much more than what he is, but doesn't make an effort to be that. It's not you she hates, Prongs, but the things you do or say or, well...are. At least, around her. She knows you're probably not so bad whenever she's not around."

"Then why won't she give me a chance?" James mumbled, feeling both uplifted and let-down by what Remus said.

"She thinks you act like an idiot to spite her, to really get on her nerves. She thinks it's you that hates her and make it your mission to get on her every last nerve," replied Remus.

"That's bullshit," James said with a frown.

"I know that," Remus responded, "But maybe you should make sure she knows that."

"How do you know all of this anyway, Moony?" Sirius questioned. "Either you're much better friends with her than any of us assumed, or you've suddenly developed an extreme talent for Legilimency."

Remus shrugged. "We had to talk about something during prefect patrols, didn't we? You can only discuss things like teachers and classes and Quidditch for so long."

Suddenly, a thought, a little bubble of hope and excitement, popped into James's head. "Do you think me and her will be patrolling together? Since the two of us are Heads?" Remus nodded.

"Heads have rounds together every Sunday. And tonight, as well, since it's the first night." James could've kissed Remus for disclosing such exciting information.

The whistle then sounded on the train, notifying students that it would be departing soon, and James motioned his friends forward, heading to find the compartment that they always sat in together. "Gents, this is going to be our year. I can feel it. Great things will happen this year, I know it. This year, I'm going to win Lily Evans's heart once and for all!" he exclaimed with the obvious sound of excitement creeping into his voice.

He chose to ignore Sirius when he heard him mumble to the other two, "He says that every year. So far, it hasn't actually happened." Because this time, he had a feeling it would.

Starting with later that night, which approached much sooner than he had anticipated. Before he knew it, he and Lily were departing the Head's dormitories to begin patrolling the corridors. Alone. Just the two of them. In the dark, empty hallways. In which anything could happen.

The first several moments were held in awkward silence, seeing as neither of them were entirely sure what to do. James assumed that Lily was trying extremely hard to ignore his presence, while he was trying extremely hard not to do something stupid. After two uncomfortable minutes of trying to figure out what to say, he figured he talk the safe option at making conversation.

"So, how was your summer?" he said, his voice coming across louder than expected in the silence.

"Er, what?" replied Lily after jumping slightly at his unexpected question.

"Your summer. Did you enjoy it?" he clarified, swinging his lit wand around, looking for anyone who might be out of bed at this time.

"I'm sorry, what?" she asked again. James resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her dim-witted response.

"It's just a question, Evans. Did you enjoy the holidays?" Her confused expression soon turned to a glare as she scoffed at him.

"No, you can't just ask me that, Potter! We agreed that we weren't going to talk unless it was absolutely necessary, and this isn't one of those situations!" James resisted the urge to say, "No, you agreed to that, I didn't," instead choosing to remain silent and let her rant. "Besides, it's not like you would give a shit about my summer."

"Okay, that's a little harsh," James replied, surprised that she would say something like...well, like that.

"Oh? How so?" she countered, once again fixing him with a glare.

"Just because you'd rather have nothing to do with me doesn't mean I don't...that I don't care, Evans! I mean, I liked you for the past, what, three years now?"

"Oh, please! You did not like me. You hate me! You're always trying to mock me or taunt me or-"

"Make small talk with you?"

"Exactly! If you actually had any feelings for me at all, which you do not, you would have the common sense to leave me alone, Potter!"

"And what if I can't?" James yelled, interrupting the end of her last statement. "What if I can't leave you alone, huh? What if I've tried to leave you alone, believe me, I have, but every time I just keep coming back?"

"But why?"

"Because I don't know why! And maybe, I'm just trying to find out!" Both of them were silent after that outburst, breathing heavily due to their screaming match and fixing each other with identical glares. After a few tense seconds James broke eye contact and sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, I know I've been a complete arsehole to you in the past, Evans. I get that. But I don't want to be that guy anymore. Can't we just start over, or something? Pretend all of...this never happened?" he said quietly, patiently waiting for her answer, which seemed to take forever.

"You can't erase the past, Potter."

"I know. Believe me, I'd erase all of it if I could. All I'm asking is for us to just...just move on?" Lily stared him down, and for a second, she looked like she might actually say yes. But James soon realized that he should've known better than to think that.

"I don't get it. Why are you trying to do this? Why do you think I might actually agree to just...forget everything?"

"Because I'm sick of this, of all of it! I'm sick of the fighting, and you hating me, and I just don't want it anymore. I never did, Evans-and that too. I'm sick of the bloody surnames. Don't you think it's a little immature now? Can't we just grow up and call each other 'James' and 'Lily'? You can't say that doesn't sound at least a little bit appealing to you. It would make both of our lives a lot easier." Again, there was silence on Lily's part as she stared him down.

"Potter, you want me to forget what you did, what you've done for the past three years? Does that mean you want me to forget everything, you want me to go back to being friends with Severus? Because things like that just can't be forgotten, time can't be turned back and it's selfish for you to ask that."

James sighed. "I'm not asking for us to forget everything. That's impossible, given everything that's happened between us. I'm just asking for us to...to move on. To get over it. Put it behind us. We don't have to be friends, or even acquaintances, just for us to not be...this, whatever this is."

"How do you know we won't just go back to being this? You don't. How am I supposed to know that the guy you were, isn't the guy you are now? How do I know that guy won't come back?"

"Because, to be honest, Evans, I just don't want to be that guy anymore. Isn't that enough?"

"Are you saying that you used to want to be that guy?" she said coldly.

"Come to think of it, no. I never did, actually. My fourteen-year-old self just couldn't bother thinking of another way to get your attention, to get you to notice me, to talk to me at all, and then it just stuck. But all the time, I was just beating myself up because I wanted there to be another way to get your attention, but I was too stupid to actually stop being that guy!"

Lily look flustered, running her hands through her hair and turning away from James. "I...I don't understand what you're saying..."

"Well, let me clarify for you, Evans. I liked you. A lot. Always have. Hell, to be honest, I still have at least some sort of feelings for you! That's why I'm trying to make things better between us! Because I don't want to-"

"No, stop, stop, stop!" Lily cried, looking furious once again. "You don't like me. You can't like me. I don't know why you're saying that, but if you think it's true, then I'm sorry to say you're mistaken. You...you're full of shit, James Potter! Just...leave me alone, okay? Because despite whatever you may be trying to do, things between us can't be fixed. You can't just go back and change them. So please, just stop trying to!"

And with that final word, she turned and stomped through the corridor briskly, looking as if she could want nothing more than to just get away from James.

He sighed, leaning his head against the nearby wall and wishing, not for the first time, that he could have a conversation with Lily Evans that didn't end in yelling.


	2. Day Four

_Day (4)_

_Lily_

Lily Evans was in a state of panic. She was running around her dorm, grabbing quills and parchment and shoving them into her bag, trying to prepare for the day. Last night, she had been up later working on an essay due next week and prefect's schedule when she fell asleep. Not only had she drooled on her paper, not set an alarm, but she also hadn't been able to pack a bag. Now, ten minutes before class started with her stomach rumbling, she was rushing around trying to pack for the day.

It was the third day of school. The third day, for god's sake, and she was already a mess. Seems that being a Head overtop of being a 7th Year student preparing for NEWTs would be a lot of work. Finally, after she had thrown on her robes, pinned her badge to her chest, and thrown her hair into a messy bun, she was off.

She ran down the stairs and out the dorms and fast walked through the corridors, smiling cordially at a few of her peers. Her oxford flats tapped loudly against the floor as she sped up her pace, trying to make it to the Potions classroom in time. It was a horrible way to start off her Wednesday, oversleeping and then a double Potion's period with the Slytherins. She couldn't think of anything worse at the moment.

That was, until thirty minutes later (after she had successfully made it to class in time, slipping beside Alice as she tried to catch her breath) when her stomach rumbled loudly. She cursed it, suddenly feeling embarrassed by the fact that she had missed breakfast. Alice glanced over at her and giggled into her hand. Lily shot her a scathing look and just stared at the front of the room, willing it to go away.

No such luck, for within a minute, it rumbled loudly again as Professor Slughorn was scratching some notes on to the chalkboard. Potter, who was sitting directly in front of her next to Remus, turned around.

"Hungry, eh Evans?"

She leaned forward and narrowed her eyes, before spitting, "Sod off, Potter." He turned around with a blank expression and Lily went back to taking notes. Just a few minutes later, Alice nudged her in the side with her elbow.

"What?" Lily snapped, still quite pissed at Potter for his comment.

"Here," Alice said, rolling her eyes with the knowledge of Lily's bad mood, as she handed her a few pieces of bacon and bagel wrapped up in a napkin.

A look of gratitude grew on Lily's face and she nodded in thank you, grabbing the food and unwrapping it. She hungrily ate it, gobbling it down between note taking. After that, the period flew by, with Slughorn stopping a few times to praise her for her diligent note taking (she was actually just passing notes with Alice) and only one longing glance from Severus.

Finally, the ancient bell rung and Lily stood up, sliding her books into her satchel and chatting with Alice as she walked out of the door.

"Oh, thanks for the food, by the way."

Shaking her head, Alice replied, "Don't thank me. It was James's idea, he noticed you weren't there and saved it for you. He slipped it to me to give you before class."

Spluttering, Lily tried to think of the reason Potter would do something like that. Why would he want to help her? She was taken back to their conversation and suddenly grew angry. She hadn't _wanted_ him to help her, she didn't _want _him to try and be her friend.

"One moment," said Lily, with her finger raised. Potter and Remus were off to the side of the corridor, Remus holding out a paper and gesturing to it as Potter listened intently.

Lily stomped over to them and waited until Potter noticed her, looking up from the parchment.

"Hey Evans, what's up?"

"What's you angle?"

"_What?"_

Potter look baffled, but Lily wasn't buying it for a second.

"I said, what's you angle? Why did you save me breakfast? Why did you even notice I wasn't there? Some kind of stalker, huh?" Potter's jaw physically dropped and Remus even seemed a bit shell shocked.

Potter threw his hands up and cried, "Bloody hell, woman, can't a bloke be a nice guy without an alternative motive? I was trying to be nice, grow up, stop being such a prat, as you would say. Lord, Evans, you are one crazy bird." With that, he grabbed Remus's arm and the mysterious parchment and stomped away.

A twinge of guilt ran through Lily and her _maybe just a bit_ overreaction, but she immediately brushed it away. There was nothing for her to feel guilty about…Right?

* * *

_James_

"Merlin, Padfoot, I just don't get it. I'm a prick? She yells at me. I try and do something nice? She yells at me. In Transfiguration yesterday, she yelled at me for breathing too heavily."

James was lying on his bed, absentmindedly tossing the snitch up and down with Sirius perched on the floor, who was flipping through a magazine.

"Prongs, why do you care so much? She always used to yell at you and you didn't give a rat's ass. You actually liked it; you said she was hot when she's angry. What changed?"

"I told you," said James in exasperation, "I'm in love with her."

"I still don't see how that changed anything."

"It means more. I actually _care_ that she despises me. I want her to like me now. I don't just want to be her boyfriend or anything… I'd do anything to just _be her friend_. I care about her happiness over mine." James looked up at the ceiling, sighing as he pictured him and Lily happy and together. He knew that would never happen, though, so he would settle for her being happy without him.

"Mate, you are so fucking _whipped_," laughed Sirius, flipping through a few more pages as he chuckled at James.

James dreamily replied, "I don't even care."

"Dude," cried Sirius, "You need to snap out of this lovesick haze. Come on, what happened to the 'new girlfriend every week' James? What happened to the fun loving, girl loving James Potter?"

James turned over to look at Sirius and simply said, "He grew up."

Later that night, as James lay in his bed, trying to fall asleep, he let himself dream. Like, actually think about what it would be like to be with her, to be with Lily Evans. Not just the physical stuff, like kissing her and running his hands through her beautiful, wavy red mane, but the relationship stuff. Like being able to hold her hand and talk to her about real stuff. He thought about cuddling with her beneath the stars and just talking about life. He imagined what it would be like to love her and know she loved him back.

It was a fantasy and it drove him even deeper into a pit of depression. Because he couldn't be there for her life that because she didn't want him to be. He needed to accept that. She was beautiful and smart and kind (to everyone but him). He was a lovesick teenager who was trying to live up to her exceedingly hard expectations.

What had her previous boyfriends been like? What did she look for in them? The harder James thought about it, the harder it was to come up with names of guys she had dated. Merlin, had she ever had a boyfriend? He knew it must be impossible, because she was one of the most stunning girls in their year. Hell, she was the most stunning girl in the school, according to James. She must have dated _someone_. How was he the only one who had noticed how amazing she was?

That night, he dreamed of her. He dreamed of piercing green eyes and pale skin layered with freckles and hands that would fit in his perfectly. When Day Five of being in love with Lily Evans came and he woke up in a sleep induced haze, he wished to go back to sleep. Because only in his dreams did he have a chance to make her happy.

* * *

Day (6)

_Lily_

It was Friday night and Lily and Alice were hanging in Lily's dorm, silently listening to a radio and each doing their own thing. Alice was painting her toe nails as Lily replied to some letters she had been putting off. First was her pen pal from South America. Second was her cousin who lived in France. Finally, she came to the one from her mother; the one she was dreading responding to.

She quickly scanned it, her eyes roaming over the neat cursive writing and perfectly dotted i's. The last part was what caught her eyes, for she wasn't quite interested in the fact that they had new curtains in the parlor or her father's bonus. It read:

_Lily, you sister has gotten herself a wonderful new boyfriend, Vernon Dursley. He's a wonderful man and a wonderful boyfriend. We can already hear the wedding bells. Petunia tells me he has a cousin and while she isn't keen on you dating someone so close to him, I'm sure we could convince her otherwise._

Lily rolled her eyes at the offer and quickly penned a short response, not in the mood for her mother's complete bullshit. She politely declined her mother's offer, saying how dating anyone would be too stressful on her life, what with her being away at school and preparing for exams. Her mother probably wouldn't take the excuse, probably going so far as to say education was silly for women as long as they had a husband who could provide. Her mother could be quite old fashioned in her ways.

Apparently, Alice could see the prominent scowl on Lily's face as she replied, for she spoke up, saying, "Who are you writing back?"

"My mum."

"Figures," chuckled Alice, "She still on your back about the whole deal thing?"

Lily nodded, saying, "She's trying to set me up with my sister's boyfriend's cousin."

Alice burst out laughing, choking out, "Oh god, that's a good one. We all know you're going to end up marrying James."

Lily choked on her own spit, pulling a pillow of her bed and chucking it as hard as she could across the room in into Alice's bed, who spluttered about her nails not being dry yet.

"Well you deserve it. The last person on this planet that I would ever marry would be Potter. You are more absurd than my mother."

Alice clutched her heart melodramatically, crying out, "Lily, I'm hurt! How could you say something like that?"

Lily just threw another pillow and went back to sealing up her letters and giving them to her owl. Alice just pouted and touched up her nails.

"Well, if you aren't going to consider James, maybe you should consider someone else." Lily had come over to sit in front of Alice, sticking out her fingers. Alice rolled her eyes and picked out a deep red color, before starting on Lily's nails.

"Someone else? You know I can't do that, Alice."

"Even if it's just a fling, nothing serious. Come one, you've never dated _anyone_, give someone a chance!"

"I've explain this a million times and I will once more, I don't want a relationship with anyone. Just drop it." Alice finally shrugged, dropping the subject as Lily had requested. "But… that's doesn't mean we can't talk about your love life."

"More like my lack of one," said Alice, "Frank doesn't even know I exist."

"Oh stop being so silly."

They chattered and giggled for the read of the night, staying up until the early hours of the morning. There came a knocking on the door just past one. Lily stood up, having a pretty good idea who it was when she opened the door. He was in a loose fitting white shirt and long pajama pants with Quaffles all over them.

"What do you want, Potter? Came to perve on us?" He turned bright red at the suggestion and shook his head.

"Erm actually, I came here to ask you all to quiet down. You know, my room is right across the hall and…"

"We can be however loud we want. This is my dorm, after all, not just yours."

Alice piped up from the back, "Sorry about that, James. We'll quiet down." Lily shot her a glare, before turning around, nodding at James and promptly slamming the door.

"Merlin, Lily, he was just trying to ask us to quiet down. We were being pretty loud."

Lily shrugged it off with a simple, "Whatever," before plopping back down on her bed, feeling slumber wash over her.

"You can just crash here," offered Lily, yawning as she crawled into her pajamas.

"Thanks," nodded Alice, "I don't really feel like going back to the Gryffindor common room." They both hopped into Lily's bed, head's at opposite sides for the size of the small bed.

"Night, Alice."

"Night, Lily."

* * *

**A/N: Please review, it would mean the world! I haven't had a chance to reply to the previous reviews, sorry about that! But I thought a new chapter is better than a reply. I'll try to reply for the ones to this chapter. Next chapter will hopefully be up soon.**

**EDIT: Go follow my JamesxLily tumblr, staganddoe (.) tumblr (.) com for updates/drabbles in this universe/etc.**


	3. Day Nine

**A/N: Not much to say other than enjoy. Be happy you are getting this, it took a LOT of motivation to get Maddy to write her part.**

* * *

Day (10)

_Lily_

It was a Tuesday, the second week of school, when Professor Slughorn called her up after class. He smiled jovially at her and waggled his finger, asking for 'a word'. She happily stayed after and approached him one the bell had rung, waving Alice off with the promise of lunch together in the Great Hall.

"So, Miss Evans… how was your summer?" he asked once the students had cleared out and she was standing in front of his desk.

Flashing him a grin, she replied, "It was quite a summer, I will say that. I travelled around Greece and Europe and such with some of my relatives."

"Why, that does sound lovely."

"And yours?"

How that question got him going. Professor Slughorn tittered on about the people he had meant and the places he had been, dropping names here and there of the connections he made. Lily drowned him out after a minute, but was sure to nod enthusiastically at every pause and ooh when necessary.

Finally, after about ten or so minutes, he said, "Well, enough about me, _for now_, I'm sure you are wondering why I called you in here." Lily nodded and smiled. "Well, I have a few students who need tutoring and I was wondering if you'd like to help out. Of course, if you did it, I would love to give you extra credit, though I'm not sure you even need it."

The thought of adding more onto her already busy schedule as Head somewhat scared her, but she couldn't turn down the offer, choosing rather to say, "Of course, Professor. May I ask who I will be tutoring?"

"Just three students, two of them are in seventh year and the other is quite a bit younger. I'm sure you'll handle it just fine! Here are their names…" With that, he tore off a small slip of parchment from the bottom of a piece and dipped his quill in the ink, scribbling out a few things Lily couldn't make out.

"Here you are," he bustled, handing over the slip of paper grasped in his chubby, meaty fingers.

"Thank you, sir. I'll contact them within the next few days. I must be off to lunch…" She grabbed her satchel and slung it over her shoulder, giving him a cordial wave before exiting the room. She only had ten minutes left for lunch, so she rushed there.

Lily arrived in five minutes, meaning she had just that to eat. She plopped down next to Alice and in a rush, started piling on food to her plate. Alice giggled at her urgency but Lily didn't pause, instead shoveling it into her mouth.

"Damn, Evans, with the way you are eating that, it doesn't seem you have a gag reflex." The voice came from her right and was accompanied by a black haired Marauder who sent her a smirk to go along with the comment.

"Shove it, Black," she replied scathingly. When she glanced up, she saw Potter had accompanied his partner-in-crime and was opening his mouth to say something. "You too, Potter, remember the rules."

"Oh, the rules?" asked Black, raising his eyebrows while looking back and forth between the two of them. "Rules to follow to try and keep your steamy, ongoing love affair a secret? Prongs, how _could_ you not tell me?"

"Because," Lily interjected, "There is nothing to tell. Now seriously, beat it and let me eat my meal in piece." With a few grumbles, they retreated back to Remus and Peter who sat at the other end of the table, who appeared to be hunched over a homework assignment.

"What did Slughorn want to talk to you about?" asked Alice after they left.

Lily pulled the slip of parchment from her pocket and threw it on the table, saying after she swallowed a bit of food, "I'm going to tutor some people."

"Oh, are these the people?"

"Yeah, I haven't looked at the names yet."

Alice did it for her, opening it up and scanning the names. After a moment, Alice said, "I have good news and bad news for you. Which do you want first?"

"Hmm… give me the good news."

Alice quirked her eyebrow, surprised at the request, but finally said, "You're going to be tutoring Andrew Baker." Lily's jaw dropped at the word, a goofy smile covering her face at the thought of the seventh year Ravenclaw.

"Ugh, he is _so _fit. He's someone I would make an exception for." She winked suggestively at Alice and broke into a fit of giggles.

Alice placed her hand over her heart and sighed, "You are _so _lucky."

"And the bad news?"

"Erm…" Alice trailed off before blurting out, "James."

Lily's shoulder drooped and her head pounded at the thought of her messy haired counter Head. Spending more time with him would be killer on her sanity.

"Just great, this is just bloody great. Not only do I have classes with him and have to live in close corridors with him, but now I have to tutor him?"

"Well… you'll have Andrew there to keep you sane," offered Alice, trying to find the silver lining.

"I'll go bonkers Alice, I swear I will. This year is turning out to be a real killer."

* * *

Day (13)

_Lily_

It took her three days to finally contact them (them being Andrew, Potter, and a third year boy named Oliver), but on Thursday, she did. With Andrew and Oliver, she approached them sweetly and found out what days would work, twirling her hair in the presence of Andrew. Because of Quidditch matches and schoolwork, Wednesdays were the only evenings Andrew was available. Unfortunately, the same went for Potter, for when she confronted him, he gave her the same excuses.

"I don't know," Lily said to him, "I'm already tutoring Andrew on that night too and he might want private lessons."

"Baker? Quidditch Captain and Ravenclaw? He's a prick. Just tutor us both on the same night." With a sigh and a few minutes of disagreement, Lily finally succumbed to his pressures.

"But let me tell you this, Potter," she said with pointed finger, "I will not have you flirting with me, making innuendos, or embarrassing me. Got that?"

Potter smirked and said, "Sounds like you have a crush. Does Evans like old Andy-poo?" He grinned but something pulled at the strings in Lily's stomach, making her feel uneasy about the whole situation.

"I'm serious," she reprimanded, "If you do anything inappropriate I will not be afraid to let you fail miserably in Potions, possibly the easiest NEWT we are taking."

"The only reason you think it's so easy is because you had Snivellus drooling all over you for the first few years of school. His potions germs must have rubbed off on you." Lily's mouth fell open at the words and Potter clapped a hand over his mouth.

"See?" cried Lily. "See, you say you want a new beginning. You say you're sorry for what happened and then you say things like _that_! God, you're such a bloody toerag, Potter, just leave me the fuck alone."

Potter started to open his mouth before sighing and walking away, receding up into his dorm room. Lily plopped exasperatedly onto the couch behind her and buried her head into her, dreading the tutoring sessions that would soon come.

"Okay, Oliver, sounds good. I'll see you next Tuesday at seven," called Lily back to him, as she walked into the Great Hall for dinner.

"Hot date with a third year?" asked Alice when Lily sat down.

Lily nodded sarcastically, "Oh yeah, you know me. I like my men young."

Black then popped up, as he always did at times he felt opportune, and said, "Well you know Evans, Peter _is_ pretty young for his age, so if you're ever looking for someone…"

Peter held up his hands and chuckled, saying, "Don't let Prongs hear, he'll thinking I'm trying to steal his territory."

"One," retorted Lily, holding up her finger, "I'm not territory to be taken or stolen. Two, are you always eavesdropping on our conversations? Sheesh, I can't get a moment of peace around here. Where is Potter, by the way?" Lily had then noticed there were only three Marauders, with the absence of the fourth and most annoying.

"Why? Wondering where you can find him for a quick shag? Gosh, Evans, I never took you for such a slag!" Lily sneered at the word, it tasting vile in the air around her.

"Actually, I was wondering why it was so quiet and peaceful around here, and I wanted to send a thank you card to whatever is keeping him."

"Well, you're going to have to send that card to yourself. The fight the two of you had really got to him, I guess. He didn't feel up for dinner." Black shrugged and turned his back to Lily at that point.

"Huh, it must have been pretty bad to keep James away from a meal," pondered Alice. For a moment, Lily felt a bit of regret for the things she said. Upon remembering his comments two, she didn't feel nearly as guilty. Still, as she went to bed that night, she couldn't shake the queasy feeling in her stomach that came with the discovery that Potter actually took their arguments to heart.

* * *

Day (14)

_James_

Two weeks ago, James was fine with knowing he was in love with her. He was able to admit it, had come to terms with his feelings, and perhaps even welcomed the idea. She had many good traits, of course, and was easy enough to be in love with. Except for when she was so damn hard to be in love with. Days like yesterday, when she made it clear that she obviously wanted nothing to do with him.

It was these kinds of moments when he wished he could love anyone _but_ Lily Evans. She thought he was arrogant, a bully, a jerk, and someone she didn't want to even bother with. And sometimes, she was absolutely right. His comment about Snape and the Slytherin's not-so-hidden affections for Lily was completely uncalled for. It had been a defense mechanism, in a way, so he wouldn't have to admit that she was actually much better at Potions than him. James was smart, he was willing to admit it, but he and Potions just did not click.

After his spat with Lily earlier that day, James hadn't felt up for being his normal self: goofing off with his friends, eating loads of the delicious Hogwarts food, and watching over the still-timid first years just didn't sound like that much fun. So he had chosen to stay in his private dorm, sitting on the window ledge overlooking the lake. Time had slowly crept by, but James stayed there, just watching as the sun slipped beneath the horizon and was soon replaced by the moon and the stars. It was somewhere around one o'clock in the morning, but James wasn't tired. Not the kind of tired that could be fixed by sleep, anyhow.

He was hungry, seeing as he had skipped out on dinner in order to avoid having to see Lily. With a sigh, he stood from his perched position, waking up his legs after staying in the same location for several hours. He grabbed his invisibility cloak and crept out of the Heads' dorm, quietly wandering through the halls to wear the kitchens were held.

He had expected to find it empty save for the house elves, so he was immensely surprised when he opened the door to find his best friend casually talking at one of the tables with the best friend of the girl James was in love with.

Alice and Sirius had a large bowl of assorted fruit in between them, and they were both nibbling at it and chatting as if this was nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, they looked quite comfortable around each other, leaving James even more baffled about the situation. He walked over to them, cleared his throat, and waited expectantly as they turned their heads toward him suddenly, appearing just as surprised about their current situation.

"So you finally decided you'd need some nourishment, eh Prongs?" Sirius said mockingly. James rolled his eyes and waved one timid house elf over, politely requesting some leftovers from that night's dinner.

"Shut up, Padfoot. I just wasn't up for dealing with people." James slumped down into the seat next to Alice, resting his head on his palm dejectedly.

Alice sighed and gave him a sympathetic glance, somehow able to read his emotions better than Sirius was. "I want to apologize on Lily's behalf...She's been a lot more...I don't know. Rude to you this year. It's almost like she's kind of scared of you." James frowned, gesturing for her to go on. "No! No, that's not right," Alice corrected. "She's not afraid of _you_. She's afraid of how she _feels_ about you."

"That's obviously not the case. I can tell plain as day that she hates me." Alice laughed, the sudden sound startling James.

"Nah, she doesn't," she said. "She just thinks she does. She assumes she should hate you, but in her defense, you haven't given her much reason to believe otherwise." James slumped down on the table with a groan, ignoring the small amount of pain that came from his head hitting the hard wood.

"How can I make her _not_ think she hates me?" he mumbled.

"Just back off a little. Not going to lie, you come on pretty strong, James."

Sirius snorted, "That's an understatement," causing Alice to chuckle.

"Exactly. You have tutoring in a few days, right?" James nodded. "Just lie low until then. Don't talk to her unless you really have to, which even then should only be for like Head duties and whatnot. And when you do talk to her, _don't_ say anything stupid." James let out yet another groan as Sirius started cracking up, leaving a very confused Alice to glance between them.

"If he was able to _not_ say stupid stuff around her, do you think he would?" Sirius snorted, continuing to laugh loudly.

"The stupid stuff has a habit of...er...slipping out," James admitted, bowing his head in shame. "I always make such a big prat out of myself when I'm around her. I just wish I could show her what I'm actually like, instead of the stupid wanker I am whenever she's involved." Alice sighed, looking at him with equal parts apologizing, sympathy, and...was that hope in her eyes?

"One last bit of advice, James," she said quietly. "Stopping thinking of her as Lily Evans, the wonderful girl you have such strong feelings for. Start thinking of her as just a person. I'll see you lads later." And with that, she stood from the table, gave Sirius a wink (?), and left the kitchens, leaving a still-confused but pensive James and a lightly chuckling Sirius in her wake.

* * *

Day (9)

_James_

Even before Alice had made her thought-inducing statement, James knew there was no way Lily could ever be thought of as _just_ another human being. There were four billion other people on this planet, but there was only one Lily Evans. (Actually, there were probably multiple, but only one was _the_ Lily Evans.) Gorgeous, witty, vivacious, extraordinary Lily Evans. How could he choose to ignore her uniqueness when she was just so...unique?

James sighed and knocked on the door to Slughorn's office, waiting patiently for him to open the door. He greeted James happily when he did, ushering him in and presenting him with a seat.

"Care for something to drink, m'boy? You're of age now, so I don't feel guilty offering you a glass of oak-matured mead? My good friend Damocles Belby sent it to me as part of his thanks for my assistance on his development of the Wolfsbane potion. Couldn't have done it without me, he said!" Slughorn chuckled, raising his eyebrows as James courteously shook his head.

"I'm fine, sir, but thank you anyway. I just came here to ask you...erm...well, I was hoping I could have some tutoring. For potions." There was a tense silence that filled the room after his statement, Slughorn staring at James with an incredulous expression.

"James, m'boy, I hardly think you need tutoring. You passed with an Exceeds Expectations on your OWL, you do quite well in the class-"

"Well, you see, I was just hoping for some...extra practice. I find your class to be the hardest, which is a good thing since I do love a challenge, but I'm hoping to pass with an Outstanding on my NEWT. And between being Quidditch captain, and Head Boy, I feel as if I someone else to help me." After another silent moment, Slughorn chuckled, patting James on the shoulder and standing.

"Should've been Slytherin, with ambition like that. What an extraordinary addition to my house you would've made, Mr. Potter," he said with a sigh. "I'll attempt to set something up with one of my best students. There are others that'll require tutoring, as well, so I suppose asking for her to tutor you wouldn't hurt. I'll see what I can do, m'boy. Run along, now, I'm sure you have much homework to do, James."

But James didn't hear any of it. Just as he'd known he would, Slughorn had said _her_-his tutor would be a girl. But not just any girl. Just as he had intended, he could now be using this tutoring as a way of getting closer to Lily, to show her that he wasn't as awful as she made him out to be.

This was his golden opportunity. Now all he had to do was not screw it up.

* * *

Day (17)

_Lily_

Today was the day. Well, that evening was the day, when Lily would have to tutor Potter and Andrew at the same time. She was quite dreading it, to be honest, and the situation sunk even lower when she got to the library to find it quite crowded. Luckily, she was able to secure a table at the back, away from most of the chaos. After spreading various Potions books on the table, she checked her watch. It was six fifty-eight, two minutes before they decided to meet.

It was actually quite strange, those few days since their fight. Potter had really laid off and hadn't really talked to her (as she had requested before). She doubted he was actually doing it because she had asked though, and rather because he had some absurd plan to try and seduce her or something equally as insane.

At seven o'one, Potter came bustling in, books in hand and hair ruffled. He muttered something as he sat down, but Lily chose to ignore him, simply stating, "You're late."

"One minute, calm your jets," he replied, pulling from his bag a quill and piece of parchment. "Where's Baker?"

"Probably just running behind schedule," she replied stiffly.

"Oh, so when I'm running late, it's a big deal, but when he's _not even here yet_, you're okay with it?"

"No, it's a big deal because you're late for _everything_ and he at least tries to show up on time."

"Oh, you _would_ know, wouldn't you Evans? Been a lot of places with him, eh? That's why you've never had a boyfriend, huh? Using him for a quick shag?"

"No, I haven't. But that's no matter because my dating life is none of your concern!"

"Of course it is!"

"And why would that be?"

"Because I'm bloody in love with you!"

Their hushed, but angry tones suddenly disappeared and silence ensured. They were both breathing heavily and staring at each other, Lily's heart pounding fast. _In love? Did he say love?_

"No you're not," she finally said, after a moment.

He shook his head, saying, "Yes, I am."

Just as Lily was about to retort, a thud came from the other side of the table. Upon looking up, she found tall, blonde haired Andrew standing there with a smile on his face.

"You mates ready to start then? Sorry I'm late, it happens a lot." They both looked at each other and then back at him.

"Yes, yes, of course. Let's get started."

The next hour was filled with awkward silences and stares, as Lily tried to not make eye contact with Potter. Andrew seemed oblivious, happily working and smiling at Lily when she pointed out in error in the work. At one point, he squeezed Lily's hand in thanks, and in response to that, Potter snapped his quill in half. Overall, it was quite an awkward hour for Lily.

Finally, eight o'clock came and Andrew waved goodbye to the two of them, sauntering off to the Ravenclaw common rooms.

"Erm... Evans... I shouldn't have..." stuttered Potter after he left, as Lily was gathering up her belongings.

"Exactly, you shouldn't have because you _don't love me_," she snapped, but didn't stop there. "You have this delusional picture of me in your brain, this perfect Lily Evans that you love to fawn over because I'm the only girl who's ever turned you down. You need to learn the difference between infatuation and love because I refuse to play these games with you."

And with that, Lily stormed away, leaving Potter in the dust.

* * *

**A/N: So, hopefully the next chapter will be up soon, new reviews definitely motivate us! So thank you to all our readers/alerters/favoriters/reviewers, you are the best (: Progress will be made with Lily soon though, never you worry!**


	4. Day TwentyOne

**A/N: Hey all, sorry this took so long. Please, _please_ read the author's note at the bottom, it's very important.**

* * *

Day (21)

_Lily_

Lily rose at noon, it being Saturday and all, and tiredly stretched in her bed. While normally, she didn't like to let herself sleep that late, she had had a rough few weeks of school so far and deserved a little Lily time in her bed. When she walked into the small bathroom attached to her bedroom, she glanced in the mirror and groaned. One side of her hair was curly and frizzy, sticking up at every odd angle possible (it was almost as bad as Potter's), yet the other was flat and limp, falling in loose waves. She must have slept on it strangely last night. It was a start to what seemed like a very bad day.

She ran her hands through it once, letting out a strangled sigh, before throwing it up in a ponytail on the top of her head and smoothing on the bumps. It wasn't perfect, but it would do. She then proceeded to dress in her casual clothes, a pair of jeans and a plain, drab black sweater.

Checking her reflection one more time, she grabbed her satchel and descended the stairs, planning on seeing Alice and Mary at lunch to make plans for later in the day. When she climbed out of the Head's common room and started walking toward the Great Hall, though, she hadn't expected to run into Andrew. At first, he brushed by her, but upon turning around, noticed Lily walking alongside him.

"Oh, hullo Lily, how are you?" he asked earnestly, flashing a dazzling smile with his pearly whites. He had dirty blonde hair and stood at around six foot, maybe an inch or two shorter then Potter. Lily paused her thoughts, asking herself why in the world she was comparing the practically god-like Ravenclaw to her skeevy co-Head.

"Doing just fine, thanks," she replied. "And you?"

"Starving, actually," he chuckled, rubbing his belly and feigning visible hunger. She giggled. "I've been out all morning with Quidditch stuff and didn't have time to eat breakfast."

"Me neither," she related, bumping shoulders with him. Lily was surprised by herself and the flirty move, almost blushing red at the thought that she, _Lily Evans,_ was flirting with _the _Andrew Baker.

"Oh, man, I'm sure you're really hungry. I can imagine you were probably really busy with Head's duties."

"Something like that," she nodded faintly, trying to suppress the image of her sleeping until the late hours. She decided not to mention her laziness.

When they arrived at the Great Hall for lunch, he nodded goodbye. Lily clapped a hand over her mouth and scurried over to Alice, Marlene, and Mary, who were all sitting there chowing on their sandwiches.

"You will never believe who I just flirted with," Lily gushed to the three of them, taking a seat next to Mary and across from Alice.

Marlene perked up and asked excitedly, "James?"

Lily side-eyed her and shook her head in disgust, "No! Why would you guess that?"

"The sexual tension between the two of you is _palpable,"_ she cried as if it was obvious. "I've got five galleons on you two snogging before Christmas holiday and getting together before Easter. Don't let me down, Lily!"

"Marly, that's awful," commented Mary.

"Oh like you haven't put down your own bets."

Mary rolled her eyes and said, "That's the point, I think they'll snap _much_ sooner than Christmas."

"Um, hello?" cried Lily. "I'm still here, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah," said Mary distractedly, before going onto bicker with Marlene.

"When will people _stop _thinking there is or ever will be something between me and Potter?"

Alice just patted her hand and supplied, "Maybe they'll stop thinking that when you two stop looking like you're going to rip off each other's clothes every other second."

Lily's jaw dropped and and smacked Alice's hand away, earning a sneered _"Prude,"_ from her best friend.

"Well, if anyone's interested in me flirting with someone _other_ then Potter," Lily started, cut off when Mary interjected, "We're not." Lily huffed and crossed her arms, peeved off at her friend's dis-interest.

Alice rolled her eyes at the other two girls and looked at Lily, saying, "I'm listening."

Lily relayed the story with giggles and clasped hands, biting her lip and lulling her head back when she said, "And Alice, you should have seen how good he looked, I could barely contain myself."

"Why Lily, you _slag,_" she said, her mouth forming into an 'o' with faux shock.

"Only for Andrew," Lily joked, waggling her eyebrows.

_Hmm_,Lily thought, _maybe something good _will_ come from seventh year._

* * *

Day (24)

_Lily_

Lily was creeped out, frankly. Sure, Oliver was nice but in a...strange way. For example, as they sat there, studying Potions, he reached over and grabbed her hand. His clammy, thirteen year old boy hand grasped hers as he said with a smile, "Thanks so much for helping me out, Lily."

"Uh...yeah no problem, Oliver," she replied, before retracting her hand. He smiled, pleased with himself, before going back to his work.

Throughout the entirety of the session, he made three more attempts to hold her hand, two and a half attempts to put his arm around her (one where he paused mid 'yawn' because of a sneeze) and one creepy try to kiss her on the cheek as she was leaving. She, of course, turned her head away and took a step back, his lips hitting nothing but air.

"Uh... yeah, see you next time, Oliver."

As she was leaving, however, she passed Potter who seemed to be quite peeved that evening. He brushed by her without and word and glared at the ground as he did so. God, he was such a prat. Couldn't even look where he's going in the hallway?

* * *

Day (25)

_James_

"I swear to Godric, that smarmy third year is getting more action with her than I am," James complained to his best friend as they walked from the Great Hall towards Gryffindor Tower, relaying the conversation he had overheard yesterday, as well as all the hand holding and arm touching. He never would've admitted that he was jealous of Oliver, but Sirius had known him long enough to know he definitely was. And of a _third_ year, too, who Lily definitely had no romantic interest.

"Just give it time, or something. Take Alice's advice. She'll come around eventually, you know. By the way, have you done that essay for Arithmancy?"

"_Shit!"_ James exclaimed suddenly. "I completely forgot that! I'll catch you later, I still have one foot of parchment to do." The two said their farewells and parted ways, James running up a changing staircase that would lead him to the head's dorm.

A few minutes later, James was powering through a not-so-difficult essay on the dangers that come with becoming an Animagus (oh, the irony). He sat on the large couch in the room that connected his with Lily's, fully engrossed in his work, so much so that he almost didn't notice the Head Girl walk in the room. Almost, because he always noticed her. Normally, he would've said some sort of cocky and idiotic comment to her, but given the fact that he was working and he hadn't forgotten Alice's advice, all he did was give her a quick nod with a small smile and resume writing.

She looked at him strangely and he could feel her strong gaze, but he didn't lift his head. Not until she-surprising both of the room's occupants-said, "Is that McGonagall's essay?"

"Er...yeah. You finished yet?"

Lily nodded. "Yeah, I just have to look over it. Maybe get someone to peer-review it or something."

"I mean, if you want, I could look over it. I'm not bad at Transfiguration, and I find Animagi easy...I mean, only if you want me to..." For a small, fleeting moment, Lily held eye contact with him, and James thought maybe she might actually say yes. But then she moved her eyes to her hands fidgeting in front of her and said quickly, "Er, that's okay. I'll be fine. But, erm...thanks for asking."

James gave her a small half-smile and murmured, "Any time." And then the awkwardness in the air could be cut with a knife. Neither of them spoke, they didn't make eye contact, but at least they weren't yelling at each other. For James, that was a major improvement.

Finally, James's curiosity got the better of him and he broke the silence. "So, you had tutoring with that Oliver kid, right?"

"Yeah. Poor thing needs all the help he can get when it comes to potions."

They both cracked a smile and James replied, "Bet he'll be spending a bunch of time with you, then," to which Lily shot him a meaningful look.

"Are you...are you _jealous _of him?" she asked incredulously.

James frowned and looked down at his parchment, grumbling something incoherent. Lily found this extremely funny and began laughing uncontrollably, falling into the nearest armchair and even slapping her knees. "The great James Potter, jealous of a _third year_!" She continued to laugh and James rolled his eyes, but he wasn't able to hold a chuckle of his own in. There was something about seeing Lily finding something he did so funny that he made him smile.

The two finally calmed down and made eye contact, igniting some sort of subdued spark in both of them, not large enough to be noticed by their conscious minds but definitely there. Neither of them knew that this would be the start to their infamous relationship, for instead of the continuous down they were always on, things finally started looking up. The connection was lost quickly, however, leaving an extremely awkward silence in its wake.

"Er, right Potter. I'll let you write that essay." And with that, Lily ran up the stairs to her private room and the moment was over. James smiled to himself as he returned to his scribbling, but only one word was on his mind, being said on repeat over and over: _progressprogressprogres_

* * *

Day (28)

_Lily_

"Lily!"

Lily glanced up from her essay, the one she was hurriedly scratching out, to find Remus walking over to her, heavy book in hand.

"This is yours," he said, handing it over to her. "Thanks for letting me borrow _Where There's a Wand, There's a Way_. I didn't get through it all over the summer, but what I read was pretty interesting."

Lily took the book from him with a smile, responding, "Oh, well I'm glad you read a bit. It really is one of my favorite general, wizarding encyclopedias."

Remus chuckled. "You are something else, Miss Evans."

A silence hung between them, before Lily perked up and asked, "Wait, how did you get in the Head's common room? Did Potter give you the password."

"Yeah," he replied, "I hope that's alright with you, Lily, but-"

"Of course it's alright with me! As long as there aren't muddy footprints in here once _Padfoot_ gets the password..."

Remus eyebrows shot up, practically hitting his hairline, while his jaw dropped, leaving him gaping like a fish. He opened his mouth once, then snapped it shut. He repeated the action two more times before finally stuttering out, "Y-you know?"

Lily giggled, before reaching over to tug him down, sitting next to her on the couch. Smiling at him, she replied, "Of course I know, Remus. I've known since fourth year."

"About...?"

"About your 'furry little problem' as Black likes to call it."

Remus rolled his eyes and made a sound in the back of his throat of disgust. "I've told him, I've told him a million times to stop calling it that, I knew someone would figure it out. But no, he goes on and on-"

"Remus!" cried Lily. "Remus, that's not what tipped me off. Dumbledore didn't make me Head Girl for nothing, though seeing that James is Head Boy doesn't give me the greatest reputation... Anyway, once you were missing classes around the full moon, I knew something was up and looked into it. And the bogart in fourth was a dead giveaway." Upon seeing his reaction, she quickly corrected herself.

"To me of course. Remus, I was worried about you. That's what friends do. And then, of course, in sixth, I put together everything with the nicknames and all four of you disappearing."

With a nod, Remus asked, "And you're not going to run away screaming?"

"I'm not going to run away screaming."

Lily could see tears brimming at the back of his eyes, but he quickly blinked them away. He lifted his head, from where his eyes for scanning the floor and said, "You don't know how much that means to me. That not only did you keep the secret but that you accept me. The Marauders... it was one thing for them to do it. For you, it means the world."

Looking at her friend, Lily couldn't help but lean forward and wrap her slender arms around his shoulders and pull him in for a tight embrace. He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his head in the nook between her collarbone and neck. It felt nice, just to hold and be held like that.

A voice sounded from behind them. "Oi, Moony?"

* * *

Day (28)

_James_

"Oi, Moony?" James heard the words escape his mouth, as he descended the stairs and saw one of his best friend practically groping the girl he was in love with. "What the hell, man?"

Remus pulled back from Lily, his hands leaving her waist to glance up at his livid friend. James noisily stomped down the stairs, stopping in front of the couch where Lily was blushing slightly, and Remus was carding his fingers through his hair.

"Is there something the two of you want to tell me? Not so crazy about Baker, eh? Saving the loving for my _best friend, _eh Evans?"

Lily stood, hands on her hips, and pointedly glared at James. Shit, he was in the dog house. But still, what the hell was Moony doing? He knew James was in love with Lily, and there he stood, practically deflowering her right in front of him. Even worse, in the common room James had given him the password for.

James didn't wait for Lily to speak, rather looking past her and to Remus as he said, "Do you not remember the code? Lily is _off limits_, no matter what."

Lily decided the interject at that point, raising her voice when she said, "Oh shut your trap, Potter. On the first hand, there is nothing, and I repeat _nothing at all, _going on between Remus and I. Second off, as I have told your little friends before, I am not territory to be traded or taken. I am a _human being_ who has feelings and rights and will never be your little play toy."

"Yeah, mate, just calm down, Lily and I's friendship is completely platonic."

James looked from Lily to Remus and that back to Lily. It stung. First off, with Baker, who James could see Lily physically swooning over at every other junction. Then of course how she let the prat of a third year put his hands all over her without a care. And then Remus, who got a loving embrace when James hadn't gotten so much as a pat on the back. It wasn't fair. Why did she hate him so much? Couldn't she see how hard he was trying?

"Hey Prongs, come find me once you've calmed down because I don't feel like dealing with this today." And with that, Moony stormed out.

Lily made a noise of disgust before stomping off too, leaving James alone, once again, in the Head's common room. James stared at the empty couch for a moment before collapsing onto it. What had he done? Now Mother Moony was mad at him and in result, Padfoot would be too. Wormtail may be on his side, but he may as well be on Moony's too.

God, it was a stupid argument, too. James _knew _that Moony would never act on anything with Lily, it was just everything building up from that week.

Within the the half hour, the portrait hole was swinging open once more, but this time multiple pairs of footsteps entered.

"Get up, Prongs, my boy," called Padfoot, stomping in and looking around until he saw James dejectedly lying there on the couch. "Come on, get up."

"No," said James, burying his head into the cushions, "I screwed everything up. _Again_."

"Nah, you didn't," answered another voice, revealed to be Remus once James lifted his head up. "Look, Prongs, I realize you overreacted and I know how sensitive you can be about the Lily stuff."

"So," piped up Wormtail, "We've... we've kind of come up with a plan!"

James immediately perked up, knowing practical jokes were just the thing to snap him out of his funk. "A new prank?"

"Not quite," replied Wormtail, waving a large, rolled up sheet of parchment in front of James's face.

"Let me present to you..."

Padfoot grabbed it from Wormtail and unfolded it, before presenting, "Project Prongs and Flower: A foolproof method to make Lily Evans fall in love with James Potter."

James rolled his eyes and buried his head in the couch, groaning, "I've tried this a million times, mates."

"Ah," said Remus, holding up a finger to stop him, "But you've never had the collaborative help of all four Marauders, have you?"

_Project Prongs and Flower: A foolproof method to make Lily Evans fall in love with James Potter._

_Step One: Start calling her by her first name, Lily. No matter how many times she refuses, keep using it. No nicknames, no surnames, no petnames. Simply Lily._

_Step Two: Ignore her. Don't talk to her, don't pass notes to her, don't say hi to her at lunch or in the hallways. Simply pretend she doesn't exist unless it is for class or Head duties._

_Step Three: Drive her insane... and as a result, right into your arms._

* * *

**A/N: So, before you go, I just want to run a few things by you all. Maddy, the writer who writes from James POV is going to camp for six long weeks. Now, that should mean no updates for six weeks, but she has given me the okay to write James parts for her. Now, if you would rather we wait six weeks to update by have the normal writer writing James, we can wait. But, if you want more frequent updates, then I will write it for her. We have very similar writing styles and there have been various times where I have written James for her, but not normally. So please, if you can leave us a review or message me at my tumblr (staganddoe) that would be great!**


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